Midnight Interruption
by CSO Spock
Summary: When Bill Weasley went to bed that night, he had no idea that by the next morning six fugitives, an injured goblin, and a dead house-elf would all appear at his cottage.


"'_Harry, what the hell's going on?' asked Bill. 'You turn up here with a dead house-elf and a half-conscious goblin, Hermione looks as though she's been tortured, and Ron's just refused to tell me anything," –J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Wandmaker_

It was midnight when the alarm sounded. And it was to this alarm that Bill Weasley woke. He sat up in bed, confused and disoriented, until clarity hit him with the force of a charging Hippogriff. The screeching signaled that the wards surrounding Shell Cottage had been breached. Bill jumped up and turned towards his wife, who was also awake.

"Someone's here! Wait here, Fleur! If I don't come back soon, go alert the Order," Bill told her as he grabbed his wand from the bedside table.

Fleur nodded and picked up her own wand. As Bill was leaving the room, she said, "Be careful, _mon amour_."

He nodded in response, though Fleur couldn't see it, and walked out into the hall. He reached the front door, took a deep breath, and opened it.

It was dark outside and he had difficulty seeing anyone.

"Bill?" A familiar voice called from the shadows. He turned sharply, wand raised and said, "Who's there?"

"Hello, Bill," responded the voice. The girl to whom the voice belonged stepped out into the light of the doorway.

Bill immediately recognized her as Luna Lovegood, the little girl that lived in the rook shaped house near the Burrow. Xeno Lovegood had always been a strange man, and his daughter was no different. They were both quite memorable people, always ranting about Naragles and Crumple-horned Snorkacks. Bill remembered that they came to his and Fleur's wedding wearing gaudy yellow. Despite the fact that he recognised her, Bill was still extremely cautious. As a member of the Order, he knew that Luna had been taken prisoner by the Death Eaters months ago and people weren't known to simply reappear after they had been captured, especially after such a long time.

"Who are you?" he commanded again.

"I'm Luna. Luna Lovegood. And here are Mr. Ollivander and Dean Thomas," she replied.

Mr. Ollivander and Dean Thomas? Both of them had also been missing for several months.

"How did you get here?" he demanded.

Dean stepped forward and started speaking, "A house-elf apparated us out of Malfoy Manor. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true! Harry and Ron were thrown into the basement we were being kept in. The Death Eaters were upstairs, trying to get information out of Hermione. They were torturing her. Ron kept yelling and trying to escape, but Harry, he stayed calm. Then, Ron brought this thing out of his pocket. I don't know what it was, but he pressed a button and this ball of light came out of it."

The Deluminator. When Ron stayed at Shell Cottage, he wouldn't put the thing down, Bill remembered. Not many people knew that Ron had it.

Dean continued speaking, "Then Harry opened a little bag that was hanging around his neck."

Bill knew it to be the Moleskin bag that Hagrid gave to Harry on his birthday. Bill had seen it at the wedding.

"He pulled out a snitch and a piece of a mirror,"

Bill also remembered the snitch that Dumbledore willed to Harry. He'd seen Harry playing with the snitch when he had been staying at the Burrow. Sometimes he'd see Harry sit and stare at the thing for what seemed to be hours. He had always wondered what Harry was thinking when he would stare at the snitch, but he never asked about it. It seemed like very personal question.

"I don't know exactly what happened, but he told the mirror that he needed help and then, not long after that, the house-elf appeared and Harry made him take us here," Dean concluded.

Bill didn't know what to do. He still couldn't be sure that these people were the real Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, and Mr. Ollivander. They could be under Glamours or using Polyjuice. But they knew an awful lot about Ron and Harry, like how Ron had the Deluminator and Harry had the snitch. Bill did know one thing for sure; whether or not these people were Death Eaters, the Death Eaters had definitely captured Harry and Ron. The information they had was too integral to be coincidental. Either the Death Eaters had captured Harry, Ron, and Hermione and then came here disguised, or these people were telling the truth and his brother, Harry, and Hermione had been kidnapped and helped them escape. The latter seemed more likely, only for the fact that if these people were in fact Death Eaters in disguise, they wouldn't have wasted time talking to him before they killed him.

Mr. Ollivander interrupted Bill's thoughts. "Mr. Weasley. I can see that you are having difficulty believing us. Perhaps I might tell you about your wand to give you some assurance? You see, I remember every wand that I've ever sold."

Bill nodded. It wasn't solid proof, but it would make it easier to believe that this was the real Ollivander.

"I sold you a wand in July of 1982. Willow, eleven inches, dragon heartstring. Very rigid and wonderful for charms and counter jinxes," Mr. Ollivander stated.

"Bill?" He heard Fleur call from behind him.

Bill looked in her direction, but kept his wand pointed at the group. Fleur walked to the group, her wand also aimed in the direction of Luna, Dean, and Mr. Ollivander.

"_Qui est-ce,_ William?" she asked her husband.

"They say that they're Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, and Ollivander the Wandmaker. Their story sounds true, but I can't be certain it's them," he told his wife.

Mr. Ollivander interrupted their conversation. "I remember your wand as well, Madame Weasley. From the Triwizard Tournament. Nine and a half inches, rosewood, and veela hair. Veela hair from your grandmother, I believe it was. Yes. I made a lovely bunch of flowers with your wand," he said.

"This ezz true," Fleur said. "'E ezz ze real Ollivander, Bill. Eet ezz 'im."

Moments after Fleur said this, another snap signalled the arrival of five figures in the distance, just along the shore.

"It's them!" Dean exclaimed. He and Luna began running towards them, and Bill and Fluer quickly followed. Mr. Ollivander began walking towards the new arrivals.

When Dean, Luna, Bill, and Fleur arrived, they were shocked at what they encountered. Hermoine was laying on the ground, trembling and bleeding, and Ron was kneeling next to her, comforting her. There was also a bleeding goblin laying in the sand. In the grass near the rest of the new arrivals was Harry, kneeling over a dead house-elf. Harry was repeating a mantra. "Dobby. No. _Dobby. _Please." Bill and Fleur paused for a moment before springing into action. Bill and Fleur went over to Ron and helped him pick up Hermione. Bill told Ron to take her into the house.

After Ron left with Hermione, Harry stopped his mantra, looked around, and turned to Bill.

"Hermione?" he said. "Where is she?"

"Ron's taken her inside. She'll be all right," Bill told Harry.

Harry absentmindedly nodded and then reached down to take the silver blade out of the house-elf. Then he took off his jacket and wrapped the house-elf in it. Bill was confused by the action, but set aside his slight confusion and decided to ponder it later when his help wasn't required. He looked over to the goblin and told Dean to pick him up and take him into the house. Dean complied. He then asked Fleur to go with them and make sure that all of their guests were cared for. As Fleur and Dean were walking back to the cottage with the goblin, they intercepted Mr. Ollivander and Fleur assisted him back to the house.

Bill could see that Harry was attached to this house-elf. This elf was obviously important to Harry, so he asked Harry if he would like to bury the elf. Harry was slow to respond. He seemed to be in shock, and possibly pain, but it was always difficult to tell with Harry. Then Harry finally responded, "I want to do it properly. Not by magic. Have you got a spade?"

Bill would have been surprised at the request if not for the fact that Bill had given up being surprised by anything that Harry Potter did. He simply nodded and conjured a spade. Once he handed the spade to Harry, he showed Harry a place that the elf could be buried. Harry gently picked up the elf. He cradled him in his arms as if carrying a child. When he arrived at the site of the future grave, he kindly placed the elf on the ground and began to dig. Furiously. Harry seemed to need sometime alone, so he walked away and let Harry have his peace.

When he arrived back at the house, Fleur was cooking breakfast in the kitchen. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. He took a deep breath and then Fleur turned her head and kissed each of the three scars that marred his face.

"Where are our guests?" Bill asked after a short silence.

"I put zem in ze guest rooms and ze goblin et Monsieur Ollivander went to sleep," Fleur told him. " I gave some medicine to ze goblin before 'e went to bed and I am cooking pour ze rest of zem."

Bill absentmindedly nodded as he stared out of the kitchen window. From this vantage point he could see Harry, who was stil digging furiously with tears streaming down his face. In his mind, he was a million miles away. Bill wondered what kind of horrific thoughts and nightmares plagued the Boy Who Lived. As a member of the Order, he knew that Harry had access to Voldemort's mind. He knew that the kinds of images Harry must receive from Voldemort and he knew that they had to be vile. How many murders had Harry been witness to? How many people had he watched Voldemort torture? How many lives had he seen ruined? How in Merlin's name could Harry deal with a connection to Voldemort's mind? Bill was shaken from his thoughts when he saw Ron and Dean walk through the kitchen and out the door each with a spade in their hand. He watched as they walked towards the grave that Harry was digging. When they arrived Harry looked up, they spoke a few words, and then Ron and Dean jumped into the hole and began to dig with him. Bill simply watched as Fleur continued to cook.

Hermione and Luna walked into the kitchen dressed in some of Fleur's clothes. They walked to the door and Hermione turned before walking outside and said, "We need to help Harry bury Dobby. We owe him our lives. Burying him is the least we could do." Then they both walked out.

Bill turned to Fleur with a questioning gaze. She turned off the stove and nodded at her husband. They both followed Hermione and Luna outside to the grave.

As they were approaching the grave, Bill saw Ron take off his shoes and socks and place the socks on the house-elf's feet. Dean pulled off his cap and handed it to Harry who placed it upon Dobby's head.

"We should close his eyes," Luna commented. Harry jumped slightly. Apparently he had not heard them approach. Ron stood up and walked over to Hermione to give her support while Luna leaned down and shut Dobby's eyes. "There. Now he could be sleeping," she said. "I think we ought to say something," she continued, "I'll go first, shall I?" Bill thought that this might be the strangest thing that had ever happened to him. In the middle of the night, six people, one goblin, and a dead house-elf all appear outside his house. Then the Chosen One digs a grave by hand for the house-elf, dresses him in clothes, and now a funeral ceremony for the elf was about to take place.

Luna began her eulogy, "Thank you so much, Dobby, for rescuing me from that cellar. It's so unfair that you had to die, when you were so good and brave. I'll always remember what you did for us. I hope you're happy now."

Luna looked towards Ron and he said, "Yeah... thanks, Dobby."

"Thanks," Dean muttered.

All eyes turned toward Harry. He swallowed and simply said, "Good-bye, Dobby."

Bill raised his wand and covered Dobby's body with the dirt that Harry, Ron, and Dean had removed.

Harry turned to them and asked, "D'you mind if I stay here a moment?"

They all murmered responses and shuffled back towards the house. Once they entered, Fleur went back into the kitchen to finish breakfast and the rest of them went into the living room.

There was an uncomfortable silence until Bill turned toward Ron and Hermione and asked the question that was on everyone else's mind.

"What the bloody hell is going on?"

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances and then after a moment Hermione began to speak.

"You know we can't say much. A lot of it's about the mission Dumbledore left for Harry," she began. "We were... hiding. In the woods somewhere. We were listening to Potterwatch and then Harry and I got into an argument. Harry... he, well... he accidentally broke the taboo and said You-Know-Who's name."

Bill presented them with an astonished look. Ron picked up the story where Hermione left off. "Out of nowhere a group of snatchers appeared. Greyback and a bunch of other wannabe Death Eaters. At first we were able to convince them that we weren't people they should be interested in. We convinced them that we were some Slytherin kids who were just messing around. They couldn't recognize Harry's face 'cause it was all puffy. Hermione hit him with a Stinging Jinx. But then they saw the scar, and they found his glasses in the tent, and then they found the sword. So they took us to Malfoy Manor."

Hermione picked the story back up. "Malfoy's mum was the first one we met. She couldn't tell if they were lying about having found us, so she called in Draco and had him make sure it was really Harry before they called You-Know-Who. Mr. Malfoy and... and Bellatrix Lestrange came in with Draco," Hermione seemed very shaken by this. She took in a shaky breath and continued speaking, "He wouldn't give them a straight answer, though... he kept saying that it _might be them _or _it could be._ And then she saw it."

Hermione closed her eyes and let out a sharp breath. She appeared so very unsettled. Bill gave them a confused glance. Who saw what? And why did it trouble Hermione so much?

They were shaken from their silent conversation by Ron. He had realized that Hermione was unable to continue and decided he would finish the story.

"Bellatrix saw the sword. The Sword of Gryffindor. She was worried that we had taken it from her vault at Gringotts. She went mad. She cursed Greyback and the rest of the Snatchers. She told Greyback to take us down to the cellar until they could figure out what happened. And then... then Bellatrix decided she would...," Ron looked away, took in a deep breath, gathered his courage and spoke, "She decided to try to torture the information out of Hermione."

All went quiet. Several sets of eyes were now on Hermione, who was shifting in discomfort. To distract their attention, Ron once again began to speak and Hermione threw him a grateful glance.

"They shoved me and Harry into the cellar while they took Hermione off. We found Luna and Ollivander once we got down there and Dean and Griphook were brought in with us. They helped untie us and I brought out the Deluminator so we could see. Harry brought out this weird mirror he has. I'm not sure what it does, but I'm glad he kept it because it got Dobby to us. Dobby showed up and Harry made him take Dean, Luna, and Ollivander here, but me and Harry couldn't leave. Not without Hermione."

Hermione gave a small smile to Ron and he smiled back.

"Wormtail came down to the cellar. Something weird happened when he tried to hurt Harry. The silver hand that Voldemort gave him in the graveyard that night... it strangled him. We tried to stop it but there was nothing we could do," Ron paused here, in thought, then shook his head and kept on. "We got out of the basement. And then things started to happen really fast. I'm not exactly sure of what happened. Griphook lied to the Death Eaters for Harry. He told them that the sword we had was a fake. That it wasn't the real Sword of Gryffindor. And then there was some fighting. Harry and Draco were fighting and then the chandelier fell and Dobby came. Bellatrix got angry that Dobby was helping us. Dobby was about to apparate us away when Bellatrix threw the dagger. It must've got him while we were leaving. And now we're here."

All went silent.

Bill didn't know how to respond. He didn't want to believe that his youngest brother had lived, and still was living this way. Thrown from one dangerous situation into another dangerous situation. It wasn't fair. None of it was fair. It wasn't fair that he got to have a peaceful seven years at Hogwarts while Ron's years at Hogwarts were a constant fight to keep Voldemort at bay. It wasn't fair that while he could think fondly back on his days at Hogwarts, Ron, Harry, and Hermione would only be able to remember the battles they had fought and the troubles they had faced. It wasn't fair that they might not, probably wouldn't (don't think like that, Bill), survive this war. He wanted to _scream_, to _yell_, to _curse_ at the injustice of it all, but he couldn't. Because after the screaming, the yelling, the cursing was done, life still wouldn't be fair, and not a damn bit of difference would have been made. He had to stay strong. If Ron, Harry, and Hermione were fighting through all of the darkness, he would damn well make sure they had everything he could give them. His strength, his support, his advice, anything that was necessary.

He turned his head to look out the window and he saw Harry approaching. As he watched the Chosen One walk towards the house he made himself a promise. He would help these three fight this war, wage this war, win this war. He would keep fighting until all was well.


End file.
